Of all the characters for Marvel to spin off for a new mini-series, Kingpin’s brutally violent mob enforcer from the Hawkeye series was not on my bingo card. While I was initially skeptical, especially after Marvel’s recent run of duds, I’ll echo one of the YouTube comments I read after watching some of the satisfyingly gritty and violent trailers: This show went from “Who asked for this?” to “I need this right now!”
Picking up after the events of Hawkeye, Echo follows assassin Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) as she flees her former life after shooting Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) for ordering the death of her father. When she returns to the Oklahoma tribal land she grew up on to avoid being hunted down by Fisk’s men, Maya drags her estranged family into the crossfire of the Kingpin’s dangerous criminal empire.
While on paper, Echo doesn’t seem like a series that was begging to be made, it is a surprisingly solid story. Similar to the unexpected success of DC’s Peacemaker series, Marvel’s newest show takes a minor character and fleshes them out. Throughout the series, we discover Maya’s history, her hurts and triumphs and her complicated relationship with Fisk. At only five episodes long, the series only has so much time to tell its story, which leaves no room for fat and keeps the plot moving at an energetic pace.
Like Peacemaker, the success of Echo is primarily driven by the charisma of its protagonist. As a human instrument of destruction that also happens to be a woman of color, Indigenous, deaf and an amputee, Maya Lopez is nothing short of a badass. The fact that actress Alaqua Cox is, in real life, is deaf, an amputee, and most important Indigenous, adds to the natural feel and believability of the character. Cox was born to play this role, and she makes the most of it.
Other actors can rely on the volume and tone of their voices to portray the nuances of each scene, but Cox does it all with her body language and facial expressions. While the series clarifies that her disabilities are part of her identity, they are never a hindrance to our heroine, and she often uses them to her advantage. She’s brutal, sarcastic, vulnerable, and tender around her estranged family. She wants to escape her past but isn’t ready to let go of the violence that brought her to this point.
I’m still unclear if her path can be considered a redemption arc into heroism since her actions are guided by vengeance and self-preservation rather than taking down Fisk for the good of humanity, but it’s still a compelling journey.
A solid supporting cast also bolsters Cox’s acting. From her lovably goofy cousin Biscuits (Cody Lightning) to her charming ex-grandfather Skully (Graham Greene), from the sinister mob enforcer Zane (Andrew Howard) to her stoically distant grandmother Chula (Tantoo Cardinal), every member of the cast brings a unique energy to the show and carries it with their A game.
The members of Maya’s family feel so fleshed out and add to the sense that there is real history behind these characters, hurts that have gone unhealed and lost time that they desperately wish to make up for. The exception here is Devery Jacobs, Maya’s cousin Bonnie. However, she isn’t given much to do except get taken hostage multiple times or gripe about Maya not communicating with her over the years.
As a mature-rated series, Echo can explore the grit and violence of the Marvel Universe, and when it does, the results are glorious. The first three episodes each have engaging and exciting action sequences. The fight scenes are fluid and precise without resorting to cuts and shaky camera movements to add a sense of dynamism. The excellent choreography and set pieces do all the heavy lifting. Give Maya some point ears and a cape, and we could watch something from the Arkham games.
But that’s also what’s most disappointing about Echo. After building to a peak of tension and action in episode 3, the series completely drops that momentum. The season finale teases a showdown with Maya and the Choctaw people facing off against Fisk and his goons, but we never get that payoff. Most of that conflict is resolved quickly and goofily, and the final fight between Maya and Kingpin can barely be considered a fight and is resolved with Maya’s newfound healing powers.
I refreshed the episode because the conflict ended abruptly; I thought the stream glitched and fast-forwarded by accident. For the series to appear to put all the pieces together for a showdown between Maya and Kingpin, not giving us that satisfaction feels like a betrayal of fans’ investment in the show.
And that’s another thing. What are Maya’s powers? While the series starts with Maya as a skilled marksman and martial artist, she develops powers that are never defined or explained out of nowhere. We are meant to understand that her powers are vaguely used for healing, but we’re never told how she knows how to use them or why healing powers extend from physical ailments to telepathically soothing Kingpin’s childhood trauma. And why does that also allow her to grant her relatives spontaneous fighting skills strong enough to easily take out armed guards? Sure, these powers derive from her ancestors and their connection to the Earth, but what does that even mean?
While Maya seems shocked about developing powers at first, we later learn that she saw her mother use them as a child for a series that is so steeped in gritty realism and violence that resolving the central conflict with “the power of family” cheapens the whole experience.
Echo’s greatest strength and highlight is its reverence and joyful celebration of Choctaw culture. The effort and care of the collaboration with the Choctaw nation are apparent in every detail, from the music to the costumes to the dialogue. As fascinating as Maya’s story is, I felt myself wanting to just get to the next scene of showcasing a cultural game or dance. Maya’s identity and culture as an Indigenous woman are central to her story, and she doesn’t feel shoehorned in or included just to satisfy some diversity quota.
Throughout the series, you can feel the weight of the nation’s history, which adds to the gravitas and believability of the world, between this series and the introduction of Kahhori in What If…? Season 2, Marvel has done a compelling job in granting Indigenous people some long overdue recognition.
Even though Maya was a compelling character, I don’t think anyone was genuinely begging for an Echo mini-series after watching Hawkeye. However, Marvel has done a remarkable job in justifying the series. Cox is stellar as Maya, guiding the character’s rage with emotional depth and room to develop in the future of the MCU. Though the show excels in its cultural representation and action sequences, it stumbles due to its baffling lack of a satisfying conclusion or explanation of Maya’s powers. Still, with its five-episode run, Echo builds its protagonist up as a thrilling anti-hero, and I look forward to seeing what Marvel has in store for her.
Rating: 6.5/10
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